In order to make it easier for us to define sweeteners, we must know what sugar is and why this attack on it in the first place!!
Sugar is the main source of energy in the human body, so that it is considered the building unit of carbohydrates in the food we eat, and therefore any carbohydrates that enter our bodies eventually turn into sugar that provides our body with energy!!
All this is positive, so why boycott and replacement??
Sugar enters the bloodstream and signals arrive in a certain way to the pancreas to secrete the appropriate amount of insulin needed to help the body's cells absorb sugar. Without insulin, the human body cannot use sugar to perform its functions, and therefore blood sugar remains high, which endangers human life, and for this reason, insulin is dispensed in the form of a medicine for diabetics to maintain the level of sugar in the blood.
It is worth noting that the best diet to follow for diabetics is a low-carbohydrate diet due to the inability of their bodies to treat the sugar inside without external intervention. This is because the pancreas is not functioning perfectly. With the availability of this information, we rarely see a commitment to these recommendations so that diabetics rely entirely on the drug, which in turn treats the symptom and not the cause, and this is not a call not to stop the drug, but to highlight the importance of understanding our bodies and the way they deal with the diet program that we eat to reduce symptoms and control the disease.
Unfortunately, studies have shown that there is no treatment to date that restores the function of the pancreas as before, but by following a health system that suits the nature of the disease, it contributes a lot to controlling it and its symptoms. And here comes the important question. Can diabetes be prevented by following a healthy pattern?? (Type II diabetes because type I is a birth defect that is often born and develops over time)
The answer is simply yes.
A person is born with different genes acquired from his grandparents, and if the family suffers from a history of diabetes, the likelihood of a person developing this disease is very likely and is higher than his peers who do not carry these genes, but the health system ensures that this person does not activate these genes. By the way, there is a hidden disease that precedes diabetes by a stage until it is known by its symptoms, which is insulin resistance disease. This disease is the disease of our age as it affects various aspects of our lives silently, but it is not possible to say with certainty that it will be infected. She suffers from all its symptoms of fatigue and fatigue from a mess in hormones from weight stability and fat accumulation in the abdominal circumference. Cysts. Migratory lining pimples in the skin. Worried.. Tension.. Depression... etc. and here the suffering begins
You resort to treating the symptoms separately. But here we simplify the cause and provide a radical solution to the causes and because unlike diabetes. Insulin resistance can be cured, so let's look more to save humanity from the diseases of our age, which mainly revolve around our malnutrition and our dependence entirely on refined foods high in sugar.
Back to our first point, what is the problem of sugar?
Sugar is found in fruits, rice, oats, whole grains, dates, etc., but it is also found in juices, sweets and white grains in a simpler form and in greater concentration.
Natural foods contain an ideal concentration of food groups in proportion to human needs and to simplify information, eating fruit raises blood sugar, but gradually allows the body to secrete insulin naturally, and this is because it contains a high amount of fiber. Then the blood sugar also decreases gradually, so the body does not enter an emergency to raise the sugar again and resort to eating more sugar. As is clear this is what happens when eating simple sugars sugar enters very quickly into the bloodstream and causes a sharp rise in a very short period and because the function of the pancreas is to return blood sugar to its normal level is secreted large amounts of insulin works to reduce blood sugar as soon as possible to its normal rate These large amounts of insulin reduce the rate of sugar to below the normal level so the body begins to secrete signals expressing the emergency need to eat sugar until it is Raising sugar to a normal level and this process continues, which is defined as the effect of the death train on blood sugar as shown in the diagram:
Permanent exposure to this effect results in insulin resistance and then diabetes.
White pasta, pies, pizza, white rice and other seemingly salty foods are simple sugars that can achieve all of the aforementioned harms of high blood sugar.
What are sweeteners? Or sugar substitutes?
All sweeteners on the market as sugar substitutes have a common thing, which is that they do not affect blood sugar so that they do not raise blood sugar and the body gets rid of them with waste. But there are types that have proven their worth in terms of side effects, hence the alternatives are divided simplified into the following groups:
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Sugars:These sugars are naturally present in some types of fruits and trees, but the products currently available in the market are primarily manufactured and these types are:
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Xylitol
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Maltitol
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Sorbitol
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ErythritolInterestingly, alcoholic sugar does not contain sugar and does not contain alcohol! To simplify ways to identify its presence in any type of food, you can search for the phrase (tulle) in the ingredients as shown in the list above.
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Sugars from natural sources
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Stevia
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Monk
These species exist in their natural form of plants or fruits extracted from them, but they enjoy almost zero calories and their current taste, which may exceed the concentration of white sugar, as they top the list of sweeteners safely according to research and studies that have been established on them, especially stevia sugar installed and approved by the Food and Drug Organization.
In the following table a simple comparison of the types of sugar listed above:
Type of sweetener |
How the body deals with |
Its effect on blood sugar |
Its effect on the intestines |
How to get rid of it |
Gas and intestinal disorders |
White sugar |
It enters the bloodstream so that it provides cells with energy with the help of insulin |
It raises blood sugar and the severity of its rise depends on the source of food, whether it is natural, healthy or refined |
Does not affect the intestines |
The body uses it as a source of energy and the excess of it is converted into triglycerides that contribute to the development of insulin resistance |
It does not cause disorders directly but most refined sugar sources have a very negative and harmful effect on the intestines in particular and on general health in general. |
Natural: Stevia & Monk |
It enters the bloodstream after entering the intestine, but it is not digested, so it does not raise blood sugar and does not lead to the secretion of insulin |
Does not raise blood sugar |
It does not affect the intestines, as it comes out of the intestines into the bloodstream and then to the kidneys, and the body gets rid of it in the urine in its form without digestion, which makes it safe for the healthy intestines |
With urine |
Does not cause gas or intestinal disorders |
Alcoholic sugar |
It does not enter the bloodstream and is eliminated directly from the intestines |
Does not affect Adam's sugar |
The intestines digest it through some bacteria that work on fermentation and this fermentation process results in excessive production of gases and some types affect the secretion of serotonin secreted in the intestines, which has a role in controlling appetite, despite the lack of calories, it may cause eating more food |
directly from the intestines |
It has a very clear effect on intestinal health through the amount of gases produced from the fermentation process, which in turn causes serious abdominal bloating, diarrhea and a harmful effect on the bacterial community in the intestines. |
Erythritol sugar |
This is an alcoholic sugar, as explained earlier, that it has exceptional properties, unlike other types, as it enters the bloodstream. |
Does not affect blood sugar |
It does not reach the large intestine and therefore does not affect it, but enters directly into the bloodstream |
From the bloodstream to the kidneys, from the kidneys to the urine. |
Its effect on intestinal health has not been proven and it is one of the closest sweeteners to taste white sugar |